Rolling Thunder

by A. R. LEOPARD

  James wandered over the whole place remembering that interesting day. He'd seen a unicorn that day! And more fairies! But fairies that were very different from the kind living peacefully by the sea, shepherding sheep. These had been warrior fairies, something he wouldn’t have been able to imagine without seeing it for himself. And he'd seen a dragon that day! Something else he could never have imagined ever seeing in real life. And then there had been that man-fairy thing! He had been quite a specimen. He wondered if they had found the kidnapper and where they all were now.

  He could see clearly that there were most definitely foot and hoof prints leading north, back the way the Guard had come, and they even seemed to be rather recent. Interesting. But then his mind went to wondering what Terragone and the rest of them were doing right now. He wondered if Falair was fun. He wondered if he were missing out. He probably was.

  He sighed and turned to ask Drift something. But his bodyguard had vanished.

  “Hello?” he called, knowing Drift must be nearby. But there was no answer.

  James walked down to the riverbank, thinking maybe he had taken his horse down. But there was nothing. He returned to the glade he'd been reminiscing in. His own horse was still there, hacking the lush low scrub, but Drift's horse was gone. James decided to wander down closer to the Tanlyiere, not too close, but just to check if Drift had gone down that way, maybe to check out the same prints he himself had been examining. But there was nothing, not a sound, not a sign. So he climbed up a rise that looked like it might give him more of a view. The hill was covered in low spiny bushes and it was quite the job getting up past them to the top. He wondered if all nature conspired to make things more difficult for him in general.

  But when he finally made it up, he saw nothing to help him. It was a lovely view, but it was empty of his friend. The plains rolled and the river sparkled; the sky was clear today and the sun shone down from its sinking western position and with it, James’ heart. What was he supposed to do now? Wait probably, and walk back to where Drift had left him. Surely he'd be back. Right? Unless something had happened to him.

  James took in the whole broad beautiful panorama once more and suddenly felt deep in his gut, something wasn’t right. Something was missing, or out of place, but he didn't know what. Drift had told him he had keen senses and James knew this feeling wasn't just a fancy. Something was amiss and he didn't have Drift's talent to smoke it out. Was he safer up here or back down with his horse? Should he wait for Drift or flee? He didn't hear a thing, so maybe that meant the danger was farther away. He'd make for his horse and head down closer to the river. That dark cursed forest was giving him a creepy feeling. He carefully and quietly descended down the hill, back through all the brambles, hoping he could escape unnoticed from whatever was out there. But it would seem danger was much closer than he’d thought.

  He had just carefully stepped out of the thorny bushes when he felt eyes watching him from within the thorns he'd just left behind. He turned and found himself looking straight down the shaft of an arrow aimed dead between his eyes. The eyes behind the arrow were unfamiliar and the brows that fell low over them made the owner look rather angry.

  James wondered what to do.

  A lot of things flashed through his mind. Run. Step back. Stare angrily back. Grab the arrow. Stick his tongue out. Yell. Cross his eyes. Ask a question. Laugh. Pretend to faint. He rather liked that last one and just the thought of it brought other theatrical skits he could fake to mind and he subconsciously began to smile. He then noticed the eyes intensify in anger and he realized life was on the line here and sobered up as best he could.

  And that was all well and good and he could've stood there quite a long time without moving a muscle but for a peculiar sound behind him. Being the curious type, it was more than anyone could ask of him that he not turn and look. If that meant death, so be it. So he turned to look and as he did so, he felt the tip of that long arrow push gently against his upper back.

  But that had become the least of his worries, because there behind him, watching him like a demon, was the most huge living creature James had seen in this world so far. A gigantic silver dragon, so much more beautiful and terrible than the little gold dragon that there could be no comparison. Its huge steel blue eyes were fixed on James, unblinking and threatening.

  James gave a little gasp, both of fear and admiration and turned to his killer in the bushes in wonder and with a measure of envy. But his killer wasn't looking so confident right now. And James soon realized why, as some movement in the brush behind his killer revealed that his killer had a killer at his throat too. And what was more, his killer’s killer was Drift!

  In a moment the arrow pointed at James was lowered and then dropped along with all the stranger’s other weapons. Drift walked the man out, warning him to keep control of his dragon.

  And as his would-be killer walked out into the light, James was taken back by his very short and slight build, realizing quickly that he was just a fairy.

  “Pick up his weapons.” Drift called back to James as he strategically placed himself so that both he and James would be safe from the dragon, whose attention was now on its weaponless master.

  James did gather the weapons and was going to join Drift and so be closer to his protection when he saw Drift shake his head.

  “Stay there. There’s another one coming.”

  James looked around suspiciously. From where? The dragon seemed confused about what to do as it turned its head from James, now hiding in the bushes, to Drift and then to its master. It roared and spread its gigantic wings and rose up on its hind legs and back down again, watching as Drift led the fairy away from James.

  Once Drift had the fairy set down and secure, he began to move towards the dragon. James was worried. If Drift got too far from the fairy, the dragon would blast him or take a bite at him, and then James would be on his own. But it seemed that was exactly what Drift intended to do. He strode towards the silver dragon steadily, his eyes locked on the huge grey-blue ones. The dragon had stopped fidgeting and was now focused on Drift. After a moment of staring each other down wordlessly, the dragon lowered its head and allowed Drift to approach unchallenged.

  James was in awe and wondered how Drift had done it, tamed the dragon, seemingly so easily. The fairy on the other hand seemed quite upset by all this. James could hear him sputtering incoherently from where he sat bound.

  Drift put a hand firmly on the dragon's head and ran it gently over the smooth scales. Then he turned and returned to the fairy. However, in an instant he was back on his guard, hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw. As he looked back towards the dragon. James wondered if he was going to kill the it, but then he heard something, the rumble of hooves. A horse was coming and soon both it and its rider, broke into the glade. A huge black horse too. But James caught his breath. It was a unicorn! The unicorn!

  The rider surely wasn't prepared for the sight that met him, but he didn't seem to be unbalanced by it either. Almost as if it didn’t really surprise him to find his friend had gotten himself into dire straits. He pulled up short and wasted no time in expressing himself.

  “Crispin, what have you done?” as he dismounted, James noticed he brought his weapon with him.

  Crispin didn't say anything and seemed to be trying to communicate with his eyes, a ploy that was failing him miserably.

  “What has he done?” Blacky redirected his question to Drift.

  Drift looked very big next to the fairies and James was glad he had him on his side. Still, he knew these fairies were, or at least had been, good guys, so there was really no need to pretend any longer. No one posed any threat to anyone else here. That first fairy hadn't recognized James and that explained his rash behavior. This second fairy would remember James and all would be made right.

  “If I may.” and James stepped out of hiding.

  All eyes turned to him, save those of Drift who kept his warily on Blacky.

  Blacky's eyes n
arrowed as he strove to remember the face and figure of the old man. James smiled sweetly and bided his time. A moment later he saw the light of recognition in Blacky’s eyes and the fairy seemed to relax.

  “Fancy seeing you here again, and in such different company.”

  “Yes well,” James approached carefully, keeping an eye on the dragon, “I too am surprised. I noticed tracks and thought your company had already passed back again. Did you ever get your kidnapper?”

  Blacky gave one last look to Drift and put his weapon back. He nodded as he beckoned Crispin to come over, “We did, but not before it was too late for the captive fairy.”

  Crispin was looking from one to the other in confusion, still seated at a distance and bound up. Drift noticed and moved over to quickly undo the knots. Crispin rubbed his wrists but still didn’t rise.

  “Ahhhh.” James said, “And how is your side?”

  Crispin made a little shocked sound.

  “Much better. Thank you for asking. How's your own wound?”

  “Bothers me less and less every day. But who is this rogue here? I assume he is with you.” and James jabbed an accusing finger towards Crispin who was still sitting in shock, “He tried to kill me.”

  “That's my cousin and I make him no excuses.” Blacky answered calmly, “His discourteousness is inexcusable.”

  Crispin finally got a hold of himself enough to rise and come over to speak for himself.

  “Blacky, you made no mention of knowing anyone like this. How was I to know he is such a jolly good friend of yours?”

  “He was in the prince's company, and I’m sure I made some slight mention of him.” Blacky’s eyes twinkled merrily, and he turned to James, “But why have you left the prince?”

  James was generously handing Crispin's weaponry back to him, “I never really intended to stay with them the whole time and we had very specific terms to our agreement. But what are you doing here?”

  Crispin, whose disposition was improving, responded, “We're watching the valley, keeping our eyes open for shifty old men wandering through it.” and he raised one of his eyebrows as he strapped his quiver back on.

  James rolled his eyes and turned to Blacky, “Anything yet?”

  Blacky shook his head and watched as Drift strode back over. James knew his guardian hadn't missed a word of the whole conversation.

  Crispin snorted, “Yeah, like these are nobodies.” and then he turned and faced the much larger man approaching them, “And who might you be? Don't tell me my cousin forgot to mention you too.” and he made a face at Blacky.

  “I am this man's guardian.” Drift whistled and both his and James’ horses came galloping up.

  “I don't remember seeing you earlier.” Blacky said.

  “I remember seeing you,” Drift said smoothly, “But tell me, what did you find in the Tanlyiere?”

  Blacky looked at Crispin and then back at Drift, “We’re not exactly sure. The kidnapper had somewhere in mind he was headed, but we don’t know where. We searched all the way to the edge of the Perla, but the Reaper didn’t want to go further without more preparation. Something evil is in there though. That much is certain.”

  Drift's eyes narrowed as his gaze moved to the looming forest behind Blacky.

  James pointed to the dragon, “Your dragon. He is quite a lot larger than that other dragon I saw.”

  “It’s a girl and, yes she is. She is the greatest of all the dragons we have. Which brings me to a question I have for your ‘guardian’ or whatever he is.” and Crispin turned again to Drift in annoyance, the question unspoken on his face.

  Drift just looked at Crispin and didn’t say anything.

  Crispin stuck out his jaw and pouted, “Am I to believe my dragon bears me no loyalty and just anyone can tame her?”

  Drift shook his head and James knew he'd never explain himself, though he did assure Crispin that he need not worry about ever losing his dragon’s devotion.

  “Wait, Drift?” a thought suddenly came to James, “If you knew these fairies were good, why did you threaten the first one?”

  “Precaution, I suppose.” and Drift turned and mounted his horse swiftly, “I’ll be back. Stay with them.” and he took off over the rise.

  “Now what's he up to?” Crispin asked suspiciously.

  “Probably just looking around.” James answered carelessly as he stroked his own horse's head.

  James was less than happy with the way his relationship with these fairies had started and since it didn't seem anyone else was going to fix it, he supposed he would. So, with a loud clearing of his throat, he stepped forward with what he hoped was a disarming smile on his face.

  “I feel we should start over, since being threatened at arrow point isn’t the best way to make friends. My name is James Redmond. What's yours?”

  Crispin looked at Blacky in uncertainty.

  Blacky smiled his own disarming smile and turned to James, “My name is Blacky, and this,” waving his unicorn over, “is Sea Grape.”

  James slowly shuffled back as the unicorn and its horn approached. It was a magnificent creature to be sure, but all it would take is one swing of its head and you could lose an eye.

  “Well, my name is Crispin, and I'm his cousin and that over there is my dragon Iron Wing. I would also like to apologize for our little misunderstanding earlier. I hope you didn't take it too much to heart. I wouldn't have shot you most likely. Just meant to scare you some.”

  James smiled his forgiveness and sighed comfortably, “This is much better. Now we can be friends.”

  Crispin smiled and looked over to Blacky, “Your not mentioning meeting this man before is truly shocking. As if anyone could just ‘forget’ about such an unusual character.”

  “Well,” James piped in, “we didn't really meet properly then either.”

  “So where are you from, James?” Blacky asked companionably.

  “Ha.” James didn’t feel like getting into all that right now, “I’m not from anywhere around here.”

  The cousins looked at each other a moment before Crispin turned back to him, “Want to ride a dragon?”

  James began shaking his head, but Crispin wouldn’t have it.

  “No, you’ll love it. You can see so much from up there and the air is so clean and pure. It’s exhilarating.”

  James continued to politely decline as Crispin beckoned his dragon closer.

  “Come on, I’ll help you up. Just one ride and I swear I’ll be careful.”

  James looked to Blacky, hoping the obviously more responsible one would forbid it. But the cousin just gave Crispin a serious look and told him not to do anything crazy.

  So it was that James found himself atop a dragon, without much to hold onto, and a smaller man than himself in charge. Even before they had taken off James noticed how far down the ground was, and realized it would hurt if he fell off. And soon he’d be up even higher.

  “Hold on tight and don’t worry about squeezing Iron Wing too hard. You won’t hurt her. And in the rare case you lose your grip and fall, spread out like an eagle and we will try to grab you before you hit the ground.”

  James wished he could back out now and just vault off the back of this death trap, but it was too late. Crispin was calling softly to his dragon and all in one moment they were up with a rush of air. The feeling was akin to riding in an elevator, but much faster and it made James feel a bit sick.

  They rose rapidly with every beat of the great wings on either side, and James dare not look over, or in fact, move at all for fear of falling. But then it stopped, the incessant flap of wings, and Iron Wing just glided gracefully through the air.

  And then James could finally see the appeal of flight. The ground below them was a stunning vista. The river, the woods, the mountains, and the green valley, all spread out below him like a living map.

  “You were right.” James exclaimed when they had finally slowed enough that the wind wasn’t deafening, “It’s really beautiful up her
e.”

  Crispin laughed gleefully.

  They continued slowly cruising over the river and valley until Crispin decided it was time to get James back safe on the ground. He tapped Iron Wing and she gently and slowly swooped down towards the slowly growing spec of Blacky, whose eye had never left the dragon or her sometimes careless owner.

  Blacky hardly wanted James’ guardian to become upset with them and it had been against his better judgment to let James go up without permission in the first place. He sighed with relief as he saw them gently descending and he turned to mount his unicorn, only to see Drift there right behind him, silent as a statue, watching the dragon idly.

  Blacky would've said until today that he was a very good woodsman and an attentive one too, but this guy made him doubt himself. Here was a master of his art and Blacky hoped never to be truly pitted against him. He nodded, though Drift wasn’t looking at him, and mounted Sea Grape and continued nervously watching the dragon as she floated down the last couple hundred feet.

  When they landed, James slid off quickly. As nice as it had been, he still didn’t want to stay too close to the dangerous creature. Who was to say she wouldn’t suddenly turn on him?

  “There's a group coming this way.” Drift noted briefly.

  Blacky and Crispin looked at each other, but Drift wasn’t done.

  “You don’t need to worry. If I am not mistaken, it is the prince's company, though returning much sooner than I would've guessed. However, they travel as if searching for something, all separated, seeming to comb the land as they move forward. Also,” and here Drift looked over to James, “they are a considerably smaller party.”

  James had done a little dance of excitement at the news of the prince’s company, but when these last words sunk in, he paused. Smaller? That couldn’t mean good things. So who then? Who was gone?